Barrier1: Cybersecurity Swat Team

Jim Libersky, President In the current day and age, there is more to a Coldplay concert or a Super Bowl than performances and jamborees. Regardless of the event, organizers are enticing the audience with immersive and interactive experiences. Imagine walking into a venue that lets attendees choose the preferred seats through a smartphone, connect to free Wi-Fi, treat oneself to a delicious sandwich and a pint of beer delivered right to the seat. Sounds convenient and incredible, all in the name of “attendee features” delivered by a simple mobile application. This is where BYOD comes in. Since a plethora of diverse devices will be accessing a network for a variety of services, it makes the network vulnerable and opens doors to cyberattacks.

It is no wonder that Barrier1 was selected to the Cyber Security Swat Team at Super Bowl 50. For a company to stay distinctive among a bevy of cybersecurity vendors and be part of cybersecurity teams at massive events, stands as a testament to Barrier1’s ability to accurately detect and defend cyberattacks.

"Barrier1 has designed a platform that encompasses BYOD, utilizes BYOD, and protects BYOD. All with the accuracy and speed everyone is looking for today"

While the enterprises have upped their game, in line with demand for connectivity that is taking the world by storm, Barrier1 is setting the bar higher by taking security to stellar heights. The company has a modus operandi that offers accuracy in discovering cyber threats with its patented, real-time Intelligent Threat Management technology that takes advantage of multi-core processors with super fast clock rates.

Barrier1, as the name suggests, sets up a barricade to deter all the known and unknown threats that crop up in the way of effective cybersecurity. They believe that while making devices truly mobile, security should never be an afterthought. This holds true for enterprises where the inevitable cybersecurity ‘bowl game’ is approaching a new high with the proliferation of devices used by employees, visitors, and supply chain individuals. This exposed global fishbowl pushes enterprises into a big dilemma: To BYOD or not to BYOD. However, the ubiquitous benefits that BYOD ushers in are hard to overlook. “BYOD adds functionality, value, and enables us to be more connected, productive, and efficient. However, it demands a cyber protection program to defend against the evolving cyber attacks. That’s where Barrier1 comes in,” says Jim Libersky, President, Barrier1. Realizing that the true calling of the company lies in defying cyber threats in an evolving era of BYOD, Barrier1’s Intelligent Threat Management (ITM) system integrates applications that can detect the known and the unknown threats amidst the rapidly changing cyber events. “Barrier1 has designed a platform that encompasses BYOD, utilizes BYOD, and protects BYOD, all with the accuracy and speed everyone is looking for today,” explains Libersky.

We have uncovered Zeus before it was named; Ultra Surf, Heartbleed, Stuxnet, WannaCry and the list goes on

Redefining the Innards of Threat Management

As BYOD is potentially turning into Bring Your Own Dilemma in enterprises, Barrier1 views this technology trend, network access control, machine to machine, and threat intelligence as parts of a cohesive whole. With attackers employing a plethora of techniques to penetrate networks today, enterprises are often confronted with a question: Why not identify and prevent cyber attacks in the communication stream? The answer, Libersky says, “lies in leveraging sensors to inspect and monitor communication streams.” Barrier1 taps into millions of sensors from around the world that are monitoring and looking for new cyber threats including Data,VOIP and IP/TV-Video. This worldwide search delivers clues. Besides provisioning complete log information and data stream inspection, the company’s ITM platform also permits VPN choices from endpoint to network, delivering encryption in transit. The platform introduces the end pieces to an intelligent, learning, and sensing environment that adds security without compromising accuracy, speed, and user experience.

By using the data stream and sensors in appropriate locations along with ITM platform, Barrier1 has perfected the art of looking into the future with game-changing predictive analytics that takes a “check and balance” approach. The result is the ability to eliminate false positives and white noise. Regardless of a device entering an organization’s network, Barrier1 acts as a sifter to ensure that the device is clean and is protected from intrusion before connecting.

Over the years, Barrier1 has built a track record of accurately identifying the newest of malware, advanced persistent threats (APT), trojans, viruses, and DDoS attacks. The company has crept into prominence with its accurate and perfected technology that uncovers never-before-seen threats—something not everyone can do. “We have uncovered Zeus before it was named; Ultra Surf, Heartbleed, Stuxnet, WannaCry, and the list goes on,” extols Libersky. Barrier1 breaks the network traffic down into known and unknown Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) by subscribing to over 70 well-reputed public and private information sources from around the world. This information is distilled to attributes and redistributed to the Barrier1 user community every 15 minutes. “We bring individual devices to a secure and intelligent learning platform, assisting enterprises in defending against all forms of cyber events that turn into an attack and or breach,” states Libersky.

There is a pervasive fallacy in cybersecurity: The more you spend, the more protected you are. However, according to Libersky, what many enterprises fail to understand is the importance of real time capabilities can be purchased without breaking the budget. In addition, Businesses need to consider the speed at which inspection and reaction can occur.

Regardless of what people or method use to connect, people want a “Real Time Experience along with being cyber safe.” Internet speeds are always increasing and show no signs of leveling off. At the same time staying safe requires a continuous multi layered inspection approach in this cyber hyper mode even for BYOD. Meeting the need for embedded cyber protection in BYOD initiatives, Barrier1’s intelligent system is capable of inspecting all seven open systems interconnection (OSI) layers in less than a second; 12 microseconds, to be precise!

Analyze, Identify, Learn, React, and Predict

The next leg of cybersecurity is access and identity control. Through two factor authentication, Barrier1 can regulate the connections to a corporate network. Prior to any cyber attack, cyber criminals often indulge in reconnaissance to learn about a victim’s weakness and vulnerabilities. Barrier1 steps into this scenario to identify, remember, and learn from the failed attempts of all types thus building a behavior profile of criminals. Consequently, regardless of the various methods or networks or protocols, these profiles will bar hackers from their subsequent attempts. In addition, the company can utilize encryption to ensure a secure transmission of data between two points. This includes tearing down and inspecting HTTPS, at the same time complying with corporate policy in regards to internet use and privacy policies. Painting an illustrative picture of the practical application of ITM in ensuring BYOD security, Libersky shares an interesting use case. Considering the broad spectrum of industries the company caters to, Barrier1 assists electric utility companies in inspecting not only their entire network but also field deployed laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Barrier1 monitors, inspects, and secures various field activities like access to the latest GIS maps for pinpointing locations of underground electric lines, connecting to utilities’ corporate network for field updates, and more.

Cyber Breaches Are a Process Today

“Cyber breaches today are processes. In addition these processes can lay dormant. Then when the time is correct, they can wake up and attack. Attackers have automated these processes and it will take only seconds to trigger. In the near future, that will be milliseconds,” says Libersky. In this scenario, security mechanisms like sandboxing, next-generation firewall, and unified threat management cannot inspect, learn, analyze, predict, and react to all seven OSI layers and data traffic in real time at the point of impact. Barrier1 inspects all IP devices and uses its patented intelligent advanced analytic reaction engine (AARE) to go beyond list-based methods. In the days to come, Libersky states, there will be a lot more companies that will check the box for analytics, big data, intelligence, or other buzzwords. However, a majority of them have not really spent the time testing for accuracy in threat detection. Barrier1’s difference lies here. Barrier1’s trajectory will focus on market awareness, vertical market partnerships, and continuous testing in every way possible. “We will be bringing industry-leading features and continue our award winning innovative approach,” he says.

By impressively balancing security and mobility, Barrier1 is in fact upping the game for enterprises against cybercriminals.